Death's Servant
by Eloradenin of the Wolves
Summary: "When will it stop?" he whispers. His hands squeeze mine so tight that I can barely bite back the cry that wants to escape my lips. I look into his wild amber gold eyes as I answer shakily, "When he kills you." IchigoXKish fanfic
1. Chapter 1

**Death's Servant**

My eyes are clouded with the pain that comes from every part of my body and sobs escape my lips when the screams wouldn't come anymore. I just want to die. And so, I tell him this.

"Kill me" I beg, "Just kill me"

He caresses my cheek with the back of his hand as he pulls the last wire from my arm.

"I have a better idea."

The hallway is dimly lit with light bulbs that hang from the ceiling every ten steps. I walk down it with the two bags of scraps tucked under each arm. My steps are labored under the weight of them but the calls from the creatures that still care to look up at my approach, give me the strength to continue onward. I stop at the end of the hallway and set the bags down so I can unlock the cell door with the rusty brass key. The door swings open and I wonder for the millionth time why it's occupant doesn't go racing past me and out the open cellar door to possible freedom. But he won't. The once proud griffin, who I named Teren, has been broken of any hope of freedom. He, like all the other creatures of my master's experiments, is now just waiting for the torture to end. For the poking and prodding, the cutting and slicing, to stop. For their essence to no longer be needed. Because once this happens, he kills them. He finally puts them out of their constant pain and misery. It was the fate I looked forward to. But for me, it never came, would never come. He wants me alive for just this purpose; to take care of his experiments. Since I was one of them, they trust me.

It has been a month now since he told me that he no longer needed me for experiments. A month since he bought me new clothes and gave me an actual room to sleep in. A month, since I became Death's Servant.

I go over to Teren and stroke his mane. The cell he lives in is too small, and too dank for him, but then so are all the cells. I pour some of the scraps on the floor of the cell. None of the creatures will eat out of bowls. They are beyond even caring about what might be on the floor. They don't even care that half of their food is generally consumed by rats before they even take one bite. I kick at the fowl pests and let my cat ears and tail come forth letting out a hiss trying to scare them away. Some of the younger rats run but the other's don't fear me. To them I'm sure I'm just the cat girl that feeds them. To all of the cells occupants though, I am a tiny ray of comfort in their painful world. I look at Teren with his sunken eyes. I run my hands over the scars left in his skin from past experiments and then I loop my fingers through the scraggly tufts of hair in his mane and cry into it. I cry for him, for every creature in here and the ones that are gone. I cry especially for Ari. The werewolf girl that used to live in special cell next to mine. I looked out my window this morning, past the bars, and saw my master carrying wrapped white bundle. As he shifted it a corner slipped and a hand slipped out from under it to dangle limp and useless by his side. I bit my lip to bite back the scream because I knew that Ari, my last tie to a human like creature, was dead. I turned away unable to watch him throw her on the bonfire.

I start to scream into Teren's mane and he finds it in his heart to grumble some sympathy and nuzzle my head with his. I look down at the empty ground. The rats have eaten everything, but I don't think Teren cares. I stand and go shakily to the front of the cell, through the door letting it swing shut behind me. I still lock it even though I know that it doesn't matter either way, but my master will punish me if he thinks that I am slacking in my responsibilities. If he had threatened to kill me I wouldn't care, in fact I would probably gladly disobey him, but what he has threatened is so terrifying that I don't dare to defy him. He threatens to start my experiments again.


	2. Chapter 2

The shouts awaken me. At first I am overjoyed thinking that the constable has at last come to investigate my master's home. That he found the secret cellar and the creatures contained there. I imagine my master being arrested and myself being taken away somewhere without fear and death so close. Where the creatures can be set free and I can maybe live to take care of them till they die naturally. But the thump stops my fantasies. It's the sound of something hitting another. A sound I've heard before when my master had to subdue a particularly troublesome specimen. It's the sound of his fist meeting a skull. The other voice has stopped, or maybe it never existed. Maybe it was just the terrified wailing of a creature and I wishfully made believe it was a human voice. This latest thought is confirmed when I hear the cellar door creak open and footsteps retreating down the stairs. I lie in my bed and look up at the ceiling. I have a new charge to look after.

As I make my way towards the cellar door my master comes out of the kitchen and stops me.

"Ichigo kitty. You have a new charge."

I nod my head calmly trying to keep from trembling. He hands me a piece of bread and a cup of water.

"Go visit him till he wakes up. He gave me some trouble so I had to take measures but I think he should be awake soon." He smiled what could be taken as the smile of a proud parent. But from this twisted man it is a smile that makes me want to gag.

I take the bread and water and ask quietly, "How do you know he's not awake already?"

His smile turns into a cruel grin.

"Because he hasn't tried to escape yet."

My steps are halting, shaky, as I make my way down the cellar stairs. My master told me that iHe/i would be in the first room I came to. That should have been my first clue that my newest charge was different than the other creatures. But at the moment I wasn't caring what the occupant of the room was. I just wanted to get into the room, make sure the resident was awake, and then take care of my other chores so I could escape to the refuge of my room until the night feeding. With these thoughts in my head I push open the door to the room and step inside. The room Is dark inside so I flick on the light switch that I somehow know is by the door and then, looking around, I realize where I am. This was Ari's room and before that, it was my room. I want to step back through the door and run but I force my shaking legs to remain where I'm standing. I force myself to look around the room and then I see its occupant. My new charge. The bread slips from my hands to land with a thud on the floor. The cup hits next, shattering into hundreds of tiny fragments on the stone floor. I cover my mouth with my hands to stop the scream trying to escape. My newest charge, is a boy.


	3. Chapter 3

I lean against the door which is now closed behind me. I know that I should be in the room but seeing the boy brings back memories of when Ari was in there, of when I was. My trembling hands can barely pick out some of the pieces of glass that cut my feet and lower legs when the cup shattered. I'm gasping for breath that just doesn't seem to want to come and then I hear my master moving around upstairs. I didn't close the cellar door when I went down and now the fear that he could come through it and see me like this is enough to make me go back into the room. Facing the sight of the boy is better than facing the pleasure that my master would have at seeing my appearance.

I close the room's door behind me still gasping and half sobbing. I lean against the wall and when I am at last calm I look at the boy again. The cot is bare of any blankets and a pillow so the boy is just lying on it. Passed out cold. He looks a little taller than me and thin, lanky almost. As I approach him I notice his clothes. They're strange to me. A brown vest of a peculiar material covers his green shirt. His pants are also brown and, short. I've never seen a boy where that short of pants before. Girls do sometimes, but never boys. His shirt and vest are short as well revealing the pale skin on his stomach. This makes my cheeks burn for some reason I can't explain. After further study I realize that all of his skin is this same pale color, nearly white. This is the first time that I actually wonder who he is, what he is. Why was he taken by my master?

These questions continue to flicker through my brain as I approach the boy's upper body and head. His hair is deep forest green with two pigtails on either side of his face. A ponytail holds the rest of his hair. His ears are what cause me the most amazement. They are pointed and stick straight out of his head. The word elf runs through my head at the sight of them but I push it aside. Elves ears stick up and down, like a humans. Besides, the elves have all left this world for a better one. I wish I could follow after them. If I could escape this prison I would go to a world far away from my master and his cruelty. I wonder, not for the first time, how many worlds there are. I realize when I feel something silky beneath my fingers that while my thoughts were on the elves and other worlds, my hands had been stroking over his hair. I gasp at the softness of it. Unlike my stringy tangle, his hair slips right through my fingers like the silk of the single "fancy" dress my master gave me.

My hands still seem to have a mind of their own as they leave his hair while I am thinking and touch his cheek. I am still too caught up in my thoughts and the new cool feel of his smooth skin beneath my palm that I don't notice the change to his breathing or the twitch of his eyelids.

Before I can react I am thrown backwards onto the ground. I feel the crack of my skull hitting the stone and for a moment I think that I might lose consciousness, but I struggle to regain my breath and vision. I can do nothing when a hand clasps my wrist and the other my throat. The sudden loss of any air seems to cause my vision to snap into perfect focus and I see who I already know is above me.

It's the boy. He straddles me, his knees pushing against my legs on either side. His hair hangs wildly around his face and his eyes are wild. I notice their color before stars begin to dance across my vision. They are a golden amber. I've never seen eyes that color, not even in the creatures. I still desperately try to gasp for breath but his grip on my neck tightens and for the first time I wonder if I am finally going to be put out of my misery. Is this boy going to be my savior?

But suddenly his grip loosens as he leaps off me and, into the air. My oxygen starved mind might be playing tricks on me but it looks like he's, hovering in midair. I gasp for air instinctively now that I can even though it means that I will most likely live. The boy seems to be in a state of panic as he starts shivering. No he's not shivering, he's shimmering. His form in the air is wavering as if he's suddenly just a reflection in a rippling puddle of water. Then suddenly he's gone. I stare at the spot where he was. How could he just be gone? My mind is trying to wrap around this when suddenly he appears again in the same spot but he's screaming and flashes of electricity course over his entire body. As I watch still too stunned to rise or even move, he falls to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain.

I don't hear the door open or the footsteps enter the room but I see my master standing over me and then leaning down to pull me into a sitting position. He grins at me and then at the boy who has stopped screaming but is still thrashing and moaning on the ground not far from me.

"This is what I meant by him trying to escape." My master says smugly, "I knew that he would try to teleport so I took, precaution to make sure he wouldn't be, successful."

I am still too shocked to do anything but gape at the boy. My master shifts me so I'm leaning against the wall in the room as he goes to the boy and kicks him with his boot.

"The same will happen again no matter how many times you try to escape." He hisses, "So I suggest you save yourself the energy and pain by not even trying."

He goes over to me and pulls me to my feet leading me out the door. At the last moment he seems to notice the broken glass that his boots crunch over and my slippers may not be protection against. He leads me carefully through it and then notices the piece of bread. He picks it up and removes all glass that clings to it before tossing it at the boy who is watching us with hateful eyes, unable, or unwilling, to get off the floor.

"Eat and recover some of your strength so you are better prepared for the experiments." My master says commandingly before closing the door behind us. I hear the thump behind us as something hits the door. I can imagine the bread bouncing back to the floor after it hit the sturdy steel.


	4. Chapter 4

Upstairs my master cleans the bruises left on my neck.

"I'm sorry I let things go that far before I came. I put you in danger my little kitten." He says sweetly running the alcohol soaked linen over my throat.

I shiver at the touch more than the actual medicine.

"No really I was alright. I could have handled myself had he not stopped at that moment."

My master smiles and continues running the cloth all around my neck.

"I'm sure you could have. You always have been a bit of a wild cat rather than a tame kitten. Though, I do seem to remember most of that wildness disappearing when you were broken. I'm certain that my latest subject will be just the same. Of course who knows, he may surprise me. I won't know officially how he reacts to treatment until I begin it. Then again, I am beginning it tonight."

I look at him in alarm.

"So soon? I thought you would at least give him a day to recover."

"It can't be helped my dear." My master smiles in what he thinks is a kind gentle way but in reality is absolutely cold and cruel, "He could become a danger to you if I don't start the experiments as soon as possible."

He gets up and heads out of the room towards the staircase that leads to the basement. At the second step he turns back to me.

"You should get upstairs into your room before I begin the experimenting. I know how the noise of the machines upsets you."

I nod trying not to let him see the terror in my eyes or the lump that has formed in my throat.

After the trap door closes behind my master, I stand up shakily from the dining room chair and stumble over to the linen cupboard to put back the medicine vile. Then I head for the sink to wash out the linen. My hand dip through the warm water as fast and as loud as they can but it still isn't loud enough to drown out the incessant hammering of my heart. In my mind I can see my master opening the door and dragging the boy from the room. I can see him walking down the long hall beside the cells. Walking towards that pure black door at the end of it. That pure black door that is the gateway to hell.

The linen slips from my fingers and drops to the floor beside the cabinet. I should pick it up but even the tiny amount of time needed for that is time I don't have. I count the seconds that it generally takes to make it up the stairs. I match it to the seconds that it takes for the subject to be strapped to the table. The time that it takes for me to fly down the hall, to the time it takes to insert the wires. The time that it takes to crash against my doorframe and fumble with the knob, to the time it takes to walk over to the main switch. When I stumble into my room I can practically see the switch being pulled down by the ice white fingers. Time seems to slow as I slam the door behind me and stagger to my bed, reach for my pillow, and smash it over my ears as much as I can. Even though the house is soundproof outside, it is like a giant cathedral inside where everything echoes through every crack and outlet. For that reason I pull the pillow even farther over my ears and curl up in as tight of a ball as I can.

It's not the machines that cause me this terror. It's the screams. And no matter how far I force the pillow over my head, they still find their way into my ears, into my brain, until my screams are intertwined with them.


	5. Chapter 5

My room is utterly cold when I awaken the following morning. A thick layer of morning dew coats my window threatening to seep through some of the small cracks in the glass. I shiver pulling the single blanket closer around me. The screams finally stopped around midnight which gave me the opportunity to slip into my night gown and throw the blanket over myself.

I shiver violently and try and curl up in a ball to make myself warmer. My master has told me that he will get a heater for my room soon but I just can't bring myself to hope for even that comfort. Maybe in truth I don't want one. For the cold is a reminder of what my life is really like. A constant reminder of the hell that I reside in.

My chores begin around 7 every morning, starting with my master's breakfast. Though he never rises till 9 I am forced to make the meal as soon as I awaken. When the meal is prepared I take it to my master's room and set it on the table beside his bed. My master's room is always in such an orderly state so one need ever know of the chaos that exists in the cellar. His books on Scientific Practices and Modern Technology sit neatly on a low shelf between two bookends of playing children. There sculpted ebony faces hold no fear or sadness, only joy and laughter. But I like to think that in truth they are hiding the fear and pain behind their masks just as I do. Beside the shelf is a single lamp complete with a clean linen shade. The rest of the room is taken up by the bed and dresser both of a significant size. How my master came upon all of these items I may never know. Then again, maybe it's better not to think about it.

With my master taken care of for the present it is time to care for the creatures and, I shiver, the boy.

But as I enter his room with a meal designed to rejuvenate his strength, I find it, empty. He is nowhere in sight. Not even under the bed, where I would sometimes hide after a particularly terrifying experience. The room has no trace of him at all. Not even discarded clothes or disturbed sheets. For a second I question if my master could have moved him to a different room. Until I feel the ice cold fingers slip around the back of my neck.

He's been here all this time. But so silent. Not even a snatch of breathing.

"Where were you?" I whisper, shivering involuntarily at his touch.

"Behind the door."

His voice is equally soft and etched with pain but also, defiance.

"Did you not sleep in the bed then?"

"If I had slept I wouldn't have needed the bed." He replies his voice growing a bit stronger.

"Why is that?" I ask trying to keep him talking while I figure out how to slip out from his grip.

He seems to be able to sense what I'm planning because his grip tightens.

"Don't try and distract me with idle questions. I know you work for…" he hisses the word, "him…and if you don't want to end up dead on the floor you're going to tell me how to get out of here."

"If I thought that it would do any good I would gladly let you kill me." I sigh softly my hands trembling beneath the breakfast tray, "But if you were to kill me my master would surely make you suffer all the more for it."

I can't be certain but it feels like his fingers loosen just barely.

"Why should I believe you?" he hisses in my ear, "You work for him."

I sigh again and nod.

"Only because I will not go back to the pain you've just gotten a taste of."

Now his hands truly have loosened but only so they can run over my neck searchingly. The light fingertips caress over the scars and not fully closed puncture marks that dot the surface of my skin. He leaves one hand on the nape of my neck while the other snakes down to take my wrist and turn it over. I shudder at the touch as he runs his thumb over the clean pink slices and more punctures. His breathing has gone heavier when his other hand finally slips away from my neck and he steps back.

"You were like me then?"

I turn around to look at him trying to find his eyes but his head is lowered so that his bangs cover them.

"I was." I whisper.

He looks up then and I catch a flicker of fear and anger in his eyes.

"Then tell me. Why are you working for him?"

He's finally asked it. The question that I'm too afraid to answer. The question that always rings in the back of mind whenever my master goes out for hours at a time leaving me the chance to escape. Why do I stay? The answer I give myself is always the same.

"I stay for them." I whisper dropping my gaze.

He blinks in confusion.

"What do you mean, you stay for them?"

I raise my eyes to meet his again, their sepia brown orbs staring straight into his golden amber ones.

"I stay for the creatures that I care for. That I lived with until I was released from the experiments and taken upstairs. I stay to give them some form of comfort and compassion in this living hell. And now…" I lower my eyes from his smoldering ones, "I stay for you as well."


	6. Chapter 6

A week passes in this routine but with a subtle change every time. He is slowly losing his strength and will to fight back. This hurts me almost as much as I'm certain it hurts him.

I stand outside the door to his room and lean my head against the frame. I have no tray of food in my hands this time. I've already broughten that earlier today. But now my master is out and the opportunity to spend more time with him is far too tempting to resist. So I push the door open gently and step inside shutting it behind me.

"Kisshu?" his name slips into the silence of the room along with a puff of steam in the frigid air.

"Ichigo?" his voice sounds choked and muffled coming from a corner of the room.

I go towards it and my hands find his in the pieces of light that slide through the cracks in the doorframe.

"You're hands are like ice."

I shiver as I rub my own over them trying to smile.

"At least there's a reason for them to be." He growls softly, a little of his wit reappearing.

We both laugh at that small jab at my master and I close my eyes to give him the opportunity to wipe his face clear of the tears I caught sparkling there when I first entered.

When I reopen my eyes it's to find his own staring back. I still can't stop myself from breathing more heavily whenever I find him starting so closely at me.

Not a few days ago the sight also caused me to shiver with an apprehension that they still hid a desire to kill me just to spite my master. Now I know better though. All his eyes hide is the fear of what his future in this hell will be. It's the same fear that I secretly hold behind my own.

"Ichigo." He breaths softly, the feel of it on my cheeks and brow causes me to shiver again, this time in pleasure.

There's a strange complex of prisoners falling for their captors. I had read about it in several books that my master would bring home on occasion. Yet never before had I read of a captor's servant falling for one of the prisoners. Until I met him.

"Ichigo." He whispers my name again and touches my cheek with his fingertips. Their lithe forms play over the curves of my jawline and then down to the base of my throat along the vein.

I can't stop from smiling at the sensation and place my own hands on his shoulders and neckline as well.

I lean closer to his eyes and lips, searching for mutual agreement to press forward. His eyes seem to gleam with a hint of their old fire as they answer the unspoken question. Suddenly it's not so frigid in this dark wasteland with our warm breath so close together.

But all too soon the time space is broken.

It's my doing. In my search along his neck I reopened a deep puncture wound. The pain is enough to make him cringe and hiss, closing his eyes sharply and drawing away.

"Sorry."

He grits his teeth and in a sudden act of ferocity that catches me completely off guard he pins me to the wall by the shoulders and plants his lips firmly over mine.

"It's nobody's fault." He growls before kissing me fiercely again.

"Except that damn master of yours." He breaths in defeat letting me slip to the floor and falling back into the corner himself.

I can do nothing but nod, still dumbstruck from both kisses.

At last I turn in his direction searching for a sign that some of the fire he had a moment before is still present but his head is in his arms again and his hair hangs limply around it.

"Kisshu?" I whisper his name reaching out my hands tentatively.

At the sound of my voice his head lifts slowly and his hands find mine again.

"When will it stop?" he whispers. His hands squeeze mine so tight that I can barely bite back the cry that wants to escape my lips. I look into his wild amber gold eyes as I answer shakily.

"When he kills you."

But as I lean forward to take my turn at a kiss my mind races with only one thought.

_But I will never let that happen. He will die before you do_

* * *

*My apologies for this chapter being shorter than the previous ones but I couldn't think of more to write at the moment. I hope you readers can forgive me.*


	7. Chapter 7

Midnight and my master has decided he can't sleep. I lay with my pillow covering my ears and tears pouring down my chill cheeks and slipping down my throat.

Since our connection has been strengthened with those kisses, Kisshu's screams penetrate into my very soul. I scream along with him half of the time and just lay trembling in a teary heap on my bed the other half. I've tried to ask my master to leave more time in between his experiments. I think he might have realized quickly that I was concerned because if anything, the experiments have gotten more frequent. And more severe. The screaming can be a testament to that.

The screaming.

I'm suddenly acutely aware that the screams have stopped. Though I can still hear one of the machines clanking slipping under my door. That can mean one of two things. Kisshu has either passed out or he's...

_Oh gods no!_

I'm instantly on my feet and through the door before the machine shuts down.

_God's no! Let him just be unconscious!_

My feet miss stairs at a time as I make my way down through the house. For the first time in years I'm relying entirely on my catlike reflexes to get to the basement as quick as I can. It's these that stop me from colliding headlong into my master as he comes out of Kisshu's room.

"Ah Ichigo. Still up at this hour?" his icy voice toys with me.

"Is he...?" I breathe trying to stare around him into the dark room.

"Passed out unfortunately." He sighs closing the door firmly behind him.

My breath comes out in a gasp of relief which he catches of course. I barely am able to catch his eyes harden before he smiles and puts an arm on my shoulder.

"Really Ichigo you shouldn't be down here at this hour. You'll catch a chill and then where will I be without my faithful servant to help me out."

His vice like grip steers me back to the stairs and drags me along next to him till we reach the top and he slams the basement door. The lock clicks with his key and then it's through the dining room and up the other flight of stairs. To my door and through it. Onto my bed with a...*shiver*...pet on the hair.

"Sleep now my Ichigo." He croons coldly and I'm helpless under his touch and piercing blue eyes.

"Yes master Deep Blue."

My voice is barely able to escape before my eyes shutter closed and I'm lost to everything.

(Sorry for the short chapter but I wanted to end it with that revelation of who her master is)


	8. Chapter 8

Ichigo I'm going out for a bit my little darling.

I shudder at the endearment in his voice and quickly try and cover it up by rubbing my hands over my arms in a play at being cold.

Though I'm certain my master can see through this charade, he plays along and pulls a shall off the coat hanger to wrap around my shoulders.

"Really Ichigo you should be more careful of your health. If it is cold you should wear something warmer and have a shall or sweater to keep you warm."

I just nod and try to pretend that the fact that he still hasn't removed his hands from my shoulders is not the least bit disconcerting.

"It wasn't this cold when I woke up this morning." I reply lamely.

"No it was not." He replies cooly and steps back at last to grab a coat for himself.

"Well then I'm off. Make sure all your chores are done when I return."

"They will be. When will you return today master? " I ask, probably a bit too excitedly because he comes back to me and stares deep into my eyes placing a hand on my cheek.

"Be careful with the alien." He whispers seriously, "I doubt he'll try to hurt you again from fear of my wrath if he does but...should he find out that I'm gone, I don't know what he would do to you."

I just nod mechanically while inside I'm laughing hysterically. _What he would do to me? He would probably go after you like a light if he knew how you behave around me and treated me in the past. What you did to me..._

I shudder as the memories of that horrible night break from their tightly woven bonds in my mind.

Deep Blue smiles icily and kisses my hair gently.

"Be safe my little kitten."

I force a cheerful smile back at him.

"I will be."

With that he's through the door leaving me with a hated shall and potentially dangerous plan forming in my mind.

"What do you call him again?"

~*DS*~

Kisshu brushes the soft feathers of the once majestic griffon with as much care as he can with trembling arms. The drugs that Deep Blue uses are starting to take their toll on him, not to mention the pain and fatigue.

I try not let it bother me as I set down the food and forcefully kick the rats away while I reply calmly.

"Terrin."

"Terrin." He repeats the name softly and thoughtfully while still stroking the feathers then his voice changes and he suddenly seems to be speaking in a different language. I'm about to laugh and ask why he's speaking in old Tilbin when I notice Terrin looks alert and curious for the first time in months.

I gape and Kisshu turns in time to catch it and laugh brightly, if a little breathlessly.

"So it's true that cats like catching flies then?"

I shut my mouth quickly and give him a brief indignant glare before I go over and stroke Terrin as well.

Kisshu grins a bit and keeps chuckling as he turns back to Terrin, speaking in Tilbin once more.

I watch mesmerized as Terrin watches the boy and then gives his head a brief nod before he gets up tiredly and walks over to the food. The rats came in but he growls at them and, probably more in shock at the fact that he's doing anything than in fear, they scurry away. With hesitant dips of the head and several unsteady paws of the unyielding concrete floor, Terrin begins to eat.

"Ips golla." Kisshu says with a smile.

I understand that much at least. _Very good_.

"He...he's eating." I gasp, feeling tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

Kisshu nods and wraps an arm around my shaking shoulders.

"I told him to. I said that he would have a chance of seeing the outside world again if he could only stay alive."

I burst into tears and happy yet biting laughter.

"The outside world?" I shriek, "None of us will ever see the outside world again! We're here till the master decides to kill us!"

Kisshu pulls me to his chest and wraps both arms around me tightly.

"I don't believe that. I can't believe that there's no hope."

I sob into his chest letting all of my built up pain and anguish over my fate, his fate, the fate of all the creatures in here, pour out onto his stained vest.

"How can you say that when you...when he's..."

I sob harder and barely even register that he's stroking my hair till his hand brushes one of my ears and makes it twitch.

"I thought I'd lost you last night." I whisper.

He sighs and drops one of his arms to his side.

"I can't curl my fingers in this hand anymore." He whispers, "I can barely even feel them. He must have severed the muscles and nerves that control them."

I stared in horror down at his useless hand.

"No. Why would he?"

I reach down and lift the dead fingers to my cheek, letting my tears trickle over them before shifting them to kiss the tips gently.

"You can't feel anything?" I whisper against them.

He shakes his head sadly and I shift the hand back to my cheek with another choked sob.

"No."

"Ichigo it's not the end of the world. It's just a few fingers."

But I can see the sorrow and fear flickering behind his eyes as I drop his hand and step forward to him again. I reach up and run a hand along his jawline before I rest it on his lips.

"I won't let him do anything like this to you again." I swear.

"Don't promise the impossible Ichigo." He whispers against my hand but a soft smile has broken across his face and his eyes look alive again. Oh those wonderful golden orbs of pure light.

I lean up and replace my hand with my lips as my hands tangle into his hair to bring him down closer.

He responds and instantly all the pain, the sorrow, the fear, the knowledge that time is ticking away, none of it matters.

At last a squawk from Terrin breaks us out of the happy daze and we break apart to look at the griffin. The creatures eyes look into my own and they seem to hold my thoughts within them, playing my greatest desires through them.

"_What are you waiting for Ichigo? _" they seem to sing and dance, _"Take the risk, or forever wonder what might have happened."_

She snapped her head away from them to turn back to Kisshu's eyes which were staring at her curiously.

"Ichigo...?"

"Come with me." I whisper, taking his good hand and leading him from the cell and down the long isle back towards his cell at the end but we're not going there. I turn away from the hateful room that offers my love his relief from the _other room._

"Where are we going?" he asks nervously and a bit excitedly.

I don't respond till we reach the bottom of the steps.

"Upstairs."


End file.
